A critical edition of Sefer Yosef ha-Meqanne', with an introduction, a translation and a commentary

Abstract

The present work provides the reader - both the specialist and the non specialist - with the first integral translation and commentary of Sefer Yosef ha-Meqanne’ (“Book of Joseph the Zealot”, 13th century), a medieval Hebrew compilation dealing with Jewish-Christian religious polemics. The work opens with an introduction in which - aside from outlining a general historical overview of Medieval polemical literature and its features - an attempt will be made at identifying the peculiar traits of polemists, their educational background and their weight within Jewish society. The introduction is followed by the first ever translation of the whole work in a modern language (English), conceived as a faithful and often literary rendition of the original Hebrew; at the same time it is aimed at favoring the reader’s immersion into the world of Medieval disputations in a clear, straight-forward and “live” manner. The commentary - a line-by-line companion to the translation rather than an independent reading in itself - has the ambitious intent to retrace as many sources and parallels as possible within collateral literature; consequently, a systematic consultation has been carried out both on Greek-Latin patristic literature and on the repertoire of Jewish biblical exegesis (perush) together with Tosafist literature. Lastly, the work concludes with a critical apparatus based on the three main manuscripts of the work: MS Paris 712, MS Hamburg 80 and MS Or. Rome 53 (later manuscripts which are declaredly copied from the three previous ones - codices descripti - have been voluntarily ignored). MS Paris 712 has been chosen as the exemplar of reference, with variant readings being collected from MS Hamburg and MS Rome.